Editing Mahasiddha (section)

==Primary tradition==
[[File:Eight Mahasiddhas - Google Art Project.jpg|thumb|Eight Mahasiddhas with the bodhisattva [[Samantabhadra (Bodhisattva)|Samantabhadra]] (top); 1st row (l->r): Darikapa, Putalipa, Upanaha; 2nd row: Kokilipa and Anangapa; 3rd row: Lakshmikara; Samudra; Vyalipa.]]

[[file:The Mahasiddha (Great Adept) Vanaratna (1384-1468) Receiving Abhishekha (Initiation) from Sita Tara (White Tara) LACMA M.77.19.3.jpg|thumb|The Mahasiddha [[Vanaratna]] (1384-1468) receiving Abhishekha (Initiation) from Sita Tara (White Tara)]]

[[file:The Mahasiddha (Great Adept) Luyipa LACMA M.80.97.1.jpg|thumb|Terracotta sculpture of Luyipa, Nepal, Patan or Thimi, early 17th century]]

[[Abhayadatta Sri]] is an Indian scholar of the 12th century who is claimed to have recorded the [[hagiographies]] of the eighty-four [[siddha]]s in a text known as ''The History of the Eighty-four Mahasiddhas'' (Sanskrit: ''Caturasitisiddha pravrtti''; {{bo|w=grub thob brgyad bcu tsa bzhi'i lo rgyus}}).

Dowman holds that the eighty-four Mahasiddha are spiritual [[archetypes]]:

{{blockquote|The number eighty-four is a "whole" or "perfect" number. Thus the eighty-four siddhas can be seen as archetypes representing the thousands of exemplars and adepts of the tantric way. The siddhas were remarkable for the diversity of their family backgrounds and the dissimilarity of their social roles. They were found in every reach of the social structure: kings and ministers, priests and yogins, poets and musicians, craftsmen and farmers, housewives and whores.<ref>{{harvp|Dowman|1985|loc=[http://www.keithdowman.net/essays/siddhas.htm Introduction]}}.</ref>}}

Reynolds (2007) states that the mahasiddha tradition "evolved in North India in the early Medieval Period (3–13 cen. CE). Philosophically this movement was based on the insights revealed in the Mahayana Sutras and as systematized in the Madhyamaka and Chittamatrin schools of philosophy, but the methods of meditation and practice were radically different than anything seen in the monasteries.<ref name=MTT>{{harvp|Reynolds|n.d.}}.</ref> He proffers that the mahasiddha tradition "broke with the conventions of Buddhist monastic life of the time, and abandoning the monastery they practiced in the caves, the forests, and the country villages of Northern India. In complete contrast to the settled monastic establishment of their day, which concentrated the Buddhist intelligenzia [''sic.''] in a limited number of large monastic universities, they adopted the life-style of itinerant mendicants, much as the wandering Sadhus of modern India."<ref name=MTT />

The [[charnel ground]] conveys how great mahasiddhas in the [[Nath]] and Vajrayana traditions such as [[Tilopa]] (988–1069) and [[Gorakshanath]] (fl. 11th – 12th century) yoked adversity to till the soil of the path and accomplish the fruit:
{{blockquote|The charnel ground is not merely the hermitage; it can also be discovered or revealed in completely terrifying mundane environments where practitioners find themselves desperate and depressed, where conventional worldly aspirations have  become devastated by grim reality. This is demonstrated in the sacred biographies of the great siddhas of the Vajrayāna tradition. Tilopa attained realization as a grinder of sesame seeds and a procurer for a prominent prostitute. Sarvabhakṣa was an extremely obese glutton, Gorakṣa was a cowherd in remote climes, Taṅtepa was addicted to gambling, and Kumbharipa was a destitute potter. These circumstances were charnel grounds because they were despised in Indian society and the siddhas were viewed as failures, marginal and defiled.<ref>{{harvp|Simmer-Brown|2002|p=127}}.</ref>}}

In his study of the Hevajra Tantra, David Snellgrove outlines the typical tantric siddha or yogi. After experiencing the consummation of enlightenment in the embrace of a female consort:
<blockquote>Thereafter the pupil is free to pursue the practice of strenuous meditation and physical self-control, and after five years or more he will perhaps succeed. He receives the five symbolic adornments, crown, ear-rings, necklace, bracelets, girdle, signs of his success. These he wears on those set occasions, the eighth or fifteenth day of the dark-fortnight, when perfected yogins and yoginis come together, to consume the flesh and wine, to sing and dance, and realize their consummation of bliss. He is free from all conventions and wanders as he pleases, knowing no distinction between friend or foe, clean or unclean, good or evil.<ref>{{harvp|Snellgrove|2010|p=11}}.</ref></blockquote>